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The City of Lebanon Authority (COLA) and officials with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) have reached a tentative agreement on a new water supply and allocation permit that sets withdrawal amounts from the Siegrist Dam and the Swatara Creek.
“We could have a draft permit by October,” COLA executive director Jon Beers told the board Monday.
COLA’s permit was issued in 1969 and expired in 2019. Since then, COLA and DEP have been negotiating how much water the authority can withdraw from the Siegrist Dam and the Swatara Creek and still ensure adequate flowby for both aquatic life and downstream water users of the Swatara and Mill creeks.
Unlike the previous permit, which set year-round flowby levels, the new agreement would set monthly requirements that vary seasonally. At COLA’s Swatara Creek intake at Jonestown, for instance, the flowby requirements would average 36 million gallons a day (mgd) during the wetter winter months.
In August and September, the region’s drier months, the flowby requirement would be 17 mgd. Furthermore, the new permit would allow COLA to apply for a temporary reprieve of the requirements in the event of dry weather and lower than usual creek levels.
Flowby requirements for Mill Creek — which is downstream from Siegrist Dam — also will vary with the lowest months from July through October. During those months, COLA can open a release valve to discharge water from the dam and into the creek to ensure adequate flowby, Beers said.
“What these numbers mean is that we will still be able to withdraw the water we need even during dry summer months,” Beers said in an email Tuesday. “These two current water sources will be sufficient for now, saving the authority tens of millions of dollars to find and develop additional water services.”
In other business, the board gave tentative approval to new rates and regulations for consumptive use consumers or those residential, commercial or industrial customers who use an average of 10,000 gallons a day of water but don’t return that amount through COLA’s wastewater system.
Currently, municipalities and industries that would be affected are reviewing the resolution, Beers said. Final approval of rates and regulation for consumptive water use will be on the board’s November agenda.
The board also tentatively approved an agreement for COLA to provide 500,000 gallons a day of water to Fort Indiantown Gap. COLA currently supplies water to the Gap but without a set limit. The Gap’s water usage has fluctuated from 554,000 gallons/day in 2021 to 347,000 gallons/day in 2023, Beers told the board.
The City of Lebanon Authority Board meets at 2311 Ridgeview Road, Lebanon, on the second Monday of each month at 3 p.m. The next meeting will be Monday, Oct. 14. The meetings are open to the public and do not require registration.
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